THE hypocrisy of Labour never fails to astound me. The latest example is that it is reported that 90 of the 170 Afghans who arrived in Britain on a hijacked plane last year are still in the country and have cost the UK taxpayers £5 million.

Didn't the Government tell us one year ago that the hijack asylum seekers should be sent home? I am sure I'm not alone in thinking the Government has lost its grip on the issue of asylum seekers.

A short while ago a survey revealed that one million pensioners were living below the poverty line. I believe if Chancellor Gordon Brown were to retire today he would get a pension of £1,000 per week.

Government ministers seem to care more about cancelling world debt -- £5 billion in the last 12 months -- and the welfare of bogus asylum seekers than their own senior citizens.

Our welfare state seems to have gone universal.

BERT HARDWICK, Queensway, Waddington, Clitheroe.